Morphology engineering of ZnO micro/nanostructures under mild conditions for optoelectronic application

Zinc oxide(ZnO)serves as a crucial functional semiconductor with a wide direct bandgap of approximately 3.37 eV.Solvothermal reaction is commonly used in the synthesis of ZnO micro/nanostructures,given its low cost,simplicity,and easy implementation.Moreover,ZnO morphology engineering has become desirable through the alteration of minor conditions in the reaction process,particularly at room temperature.In this work,ZnO micro/nanostructures were synthesized in a solution by varying the amounts of the ammonia added at low temperatures(including room temperature).The formation of Zn^(2+)complexes by ammonia in the precursor regulated the reaction rate of the morphology engineering of ZnO,which resulted in various structures,such as nanoparticles,nanosheets,microflowers,and single crystals.Finally,the obtained ZnO was used in the optoelectronic application of ultraviolet detectors.

Boosting the zinc storage performance of vanadium dioxide by integrated morphology engineering and carbon nanotube conductive networks

Vanadium dioxide(VO_(2)) with the advantages of high theoretical capacity and tunnel structure has attracted considerable promising candidates for aqueous zinc-ion batteries.Nevertheless,the intrinsic low electronic conductivity of VO_(2) results in an unsatisfactory electrochemical performance.Herein,a flower-like VO_(2)/carbon nanotubes(CNTs)composite was obtained by a facile hydrothermal method.The unique flower-like morphology shortens the ion transport length and facilitates electrolyte infiltration.Meanwhile,the CNT conductive networks is in favor of fast electron transfer.A highly reversible zinc storage mechanism was revealed by ex-situ X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.As a result,the VO_(2)/CNTs cathode exhibits a high reversible capacity(410 mAh·g^(−1)),superior rate performance(305 mAh·g^(−1)at 5 A·g^(−1)),and excellent cycling stability(a reversible capacity of 221 mAh·g^(−1)was maintained even after 2000 cycles).This work provides a guide for the design of high-performance cathode materials for aqueous zinc metal batteries.

Targeted bottom-up synthesis of 1T-phase MoS2 arrays with high electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity by simultaneous structure and morphology engineering

The incorporation of small guest molecules or ions by bottom-up hydrothermal synthesis has recently emerged as a promising new way to engineer 1T-phase MoS2 with high hydrogen evolution reaction （HER） activity. However, the mechanism of the associated structural evolution remains elusive and controversial, leading to a lack of effective routes to prepare 1T-phase MoS2 with controlled structure and morphology, along with high purity and stability. Herein, urea is chosen as precursor of small molecules or ions to simultaneously engineer the phase （16.4%, - 69.4%, and -90.2% of 1T phase） and size （98.8, - 151.6, and - 251.8 nm for the 90.2% 1T phase） of MoS2 nanosheets, which represent an ideal model system for investigating the structural evolution in these materials, as well as developing a new type of 1T-phase MoS2 arrays. Using reaction intermediate monitoring and theoretical calculations, we show that the oriented growth of 1T-phase MoS2 is controlled by ammonia-assisted assembly recrystallization, and stabilization processes. A superior HER performance in acidic media is obtained, with an overpotential of only 76 mV required to achieve a stable current density of 10 mA.cm-2 for 15 h. This excellent performance is attributed to the unique array structure, involving well-dispersed, edge-terminated, and high-purity 1T-phase MoS2 nanosheets.

Morphology Engineering for Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs) by Surfactant Mediation and Acid Adjustment

Two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks(COFs)with specific morphologies including nanofibers and nanoplates are highly desired in both nanoscience research and practical applications.Thus far,however,morphology engineering for COFs remains challenging because the mechanism underlying the morphology formation and evolution of COFs is not well understood.Herein,we propose a strategy of surfactant mediation coupled with acid adjustment to engineer the morphology of aβ-ketoenamine-linked COF,TpPa,during solvothermal synthesis.The surfactants function as stabilizers that can encapsulate monomers and prepolymers to create micelles,enabling the formation of fiber-like and plate-like morphologies of TpPa rather than irregularly shaped aggregates.It is also found that acetic acid is important in regulating such morphologies,as the amino groups inside the prepolymers can be precisely protonated by acid adjustment,leading to an inhibited ripening process for the creation of specific morphologies.Benefitting from the synergistic enhancement of surfactant mediation and acid adjustment,TpPa nanofibers with a diameter down to~20 nm along with a length of up to a few microns and TpPa nanoplates with a thickness of~18 nm are created.Our work sheds light on the mechanism underlying the morphology formation and evolution of TpPa,providing some guidance for exquisite control over the growth of COFs,which is of great significance for their practical applications.

Enhancing single-cell hyaluronic acid biosynthesis by microbial morphology engineering

Microbial morphology engineering is a novel approach for cell factory to improve the titer of target product in bio-manufacture.Hyaluronic acid(HA),a valuable glycosaminoglycan polymerized by HA synthase(HAS),a membrane protein,is particularly selected as the model product to improve its single-cell HA-producing capacity via morphology engineering.DivIVA and FtsZ,the cell-elongation and cell division related protein,respectively,were both down/up dual regulated in C.glutamicum via weak promoter substitution or plasmid overexpression.Different from the natural short-rod shape,varied morphologies of engineered cells,i.e.small-ellipsoid-like(DivIVA-reduced),bulb-like(DivIVA-enhanced),long-rod(FtsZ-reduced)and dumbbell-like(FtsZ-enhanced),were observed.Applying these morphology-changed cells as hosts for HA production,the reduced expression of both DivIVA and FtsZ seriously inhibited normal cell growth;meanwhile,overexpression of DivIVA didn't show morphology changes,but overexpression of FtsZ surprisingly change the cell-shape into long and thick rod with remarkably enlarged single-cell surface area(more than 5.2-fold-increase).And finally,the single-cell HA-producing capacity of the FtsZ-overexpressed C.glutamicum was immensely improved by 13.5-folds.Flow cytometry analyses verified that the single-cell HAS amount on membrane was enhanced by 2.1 folds.This work is pretty valuable for high titer synthesis of diverse metabolic products with microbial cell factory.

Morphological Engineering of Sensing Materials for Flexible Pressure Sensors and Artificial Intelligence Applications

As an indispensable branch of wearable electronics,flexible pressure sensors are gaining tremendous attention due to their extensive applications in health monitoring,human-machine interaction,artificial intelligence,the internet of things,and other fields.In recent years,highly flexible and wearable pressure sensors have been developed using various materials/structures and transduction mechanisms.Morphological engineering of sensing materials at the nanometer and micrometer scales is crucial to obtaining superior sensor performance.This review focuses on the rapid development of morphological engineering technologies for flexible pressure sensors.We discuss different architectures and morphological designs of sensing materials to achieve high performance,including high sensitivity,broad working range,stable sensing,low hysteresis,high transparency,and directional or selective sensing.Additionally,the general fabrication techniques are summarized,including self-assembly,patterning,and auxiliary synthesis methods.Furthermore,we present the emerging applications of high-performing microengineered pressure sensors in healthcare,smart homes,digital sports,security monitoring,and machine learning-enabled computational sensing platform.Finally,the potential challenges and prospects for the future developments of pressure sensors are discussed comprehensively.

Engineering bacteria for enhanced polyhydroxyalkanoates(PHA)biosynthesis

Polyhydroxyalkanoates(PHA)have been produced by some bacteria as bioplastics for many years.Yet their commercialization is still on the way.A few issues are related to the difficulty of PHA commercialization:namely,high cost and instabilities on molecular weights(Mw)and structures,thus instability on thermo-mechanical properties.The high cost is the result of complicated bioprocessing associated with sterilization,low conversion of carbon substrates to PHA products,and slow growth of microorganisms as well as difficulty of downstream separation.Future engineering on PHA producing microorganisms should be focused on contamination resistant bacteria especially extremophiles,developments of engineering approaches for the extremophiles,increase on carbon substrates to PHA conversion and controlling Mw of PHA.The concept proof studies could still be conducted on E.coli or Pseudomonas spp.that are easily used for molecular manipulations.In this review,we will use E.coli and halophiles as examples to show how to engineer bacteria for enhanced PHA biosynthesis and for increasing PHA competitiveness.

Sustainable engineering of TiO_(2)-based advanced oxidation technologies:From photocatalyst to application devices

In recent years,photocatalysis(PC)and photoelectrocatalysis(PEC)technologies have shown great promise as low-cost,environmentally friendly,and sustainable strategies in addressing the issues of energy shortages and environmental pollution,which has become a research hotspot.Titanium dioxide(TiO_(2))-based PC and PEC are the most promising sustainable technologies for advanced oxidation applications.Due to its inherent characteristics,including high oxidation ability,low price,and stability,TiO_(2)photocatalyst has been widely studied and used in different scales for numerous decades.For practical applications in these areas,the engineering of the photocatalysts and the design of the PC and PEC devices must be both environmentally and economically sustainable.On the one hand,for the engineering of the photocatalysts,the photocatalyst shall be able to deliver the following characteristics,including large specific surface area,high absorption of light,rapid and low-cost separation and regeneration,and high stability.On the other hand,the design of the PC and PEC devices shall facilitate high in energy utilization and catalytic efficiency,and low in building and operational cost.This work covers the reaction mechanism of TiO_(2)-based PC and PEC technologies,sustainable design,and preparation of TiO_(2)photocatalysts as well as sustainable design in PC and PEC devices for wastewater treatment,sensing,and water splitting.Finally,we provide some critical perspectives on the future development of TiO_(2)-based PC and PEC technology.

Interface and bulk controlled perovskite nanocrystal growth for high brightness light-emitting diodes [Invited]

Halide perovskites have attracted great attention due to their high color purity, high luminance yield, low non-radiative recombination rate, and solution processability. Although the external quantum efficiency of perovskite light-emitting diodes(Pe LEDs) is comparable with that of the organic light-emitting diodes(OLEDs) and quantum-dots light-emitting diodes(QLEDs), the brightness is still low compared with the traditional OLEDs and QLEDs. Herein, we demonstrate high brightness and high-efficiency Cs Pb Br3-based Pe LEDs using interface and bulk controlled nanocrystal growth of the perovskite emission layer. The interface engineering by ethanolamine and bulk engineering by polyethylene glycol led to highly crystallized and cubic-shaped perovskite nanocrystals with smooth and compact morphology. As a result, Pe LEDs with a high brightness of 64756 cd/m2 and an external quantum efficiency of 13.4% have been achieved.

A facile synthesis of hierarchical Sn3O4 nanostructures in an acidic aqueous solution and their strong visible- light-driven photocatalytic activity

Hierarchical tin（Ⅲ） oxide, Sn3O4, nanospheres were synthesized via hydrothermal reaction under strongly acidic ambient conditions. The morphology of Sn3O4 varied with decreasing pH. The prickly SnaO4 nanospheres changed into SnaO4 nanospheres covered with single-crystalline nanoplates having a high BET surface area of ca. 55.05 m^2·g^-1 and a band gap of ca. 2.25 eV. Small amounts （0.05 g） of the hierarchical Sn3O4 nanostructures completely decomposed a 30% methyl orange （MO） solution in 100 mL deionized water within 15 min under one sun condition （UV ＋ visible light）. The Sn3O4 photocatalyst exhibited a fast decomposition rate of 1.73 ×10^-1 min^-1, which is a 90.86% enhancement relative to that of the commercially available P25 photocatalyst. The high photocatalytic activity of the hierarchical Sn3O4 nanostructures is attributed to its ability to absorb visible light and its high surface-to-volume ratio.

石墨烯负载分子铁酞菁催化剂的形貌结构调控与氧还原催化应用

分散在纳米碳基底上的分子催化剂由于具有明确的活性位点和结构可调的特点,成为了一类独特的单原子催化剂,有望代替贵金属催化剂用于电催化氧还原反应.本文中,我们开发了一种高活性氧还原催化剂,该催化剂由均匀且密集分散在泡芙状石墨烯载体上的铁酞菁(FePc/PG)构成.泡芙状石墨烯载体由于具有独特的皱褶和球状形貌,具有较大的比表面积和多尺度的孔结构,有利于FePc的高密度负载、活性位点的暴露和催化过程中传质效率的提高.当用旋转圆盘电极评估性能时,FePc/PG表现出优异的半波电位,达0.909 V(相对于可逆氢电极).此外,当用作气体扩散电极时,FePc/PG在高电流密度下表现出优异的高倍率和高功率性能.这项工作为设计纳米碳材料的形貌以及高性能异相分子催化剂提供了有效的策略,有望在多种能源转换和存储技术中得到应用.

Preparation of PLGA Microspheres with Different Porous Morphologies

Poly（D,L-lactide-co-glycolide）（PLGA） microspheres were prepared by emulsion solvent evaporation method. The influences of inner aqueous phase, organic solvent, PLGA concentration on the morphology of microspheres were studied. The results showed that addition of porogen or surfactants to the inner aqueous phase, types of organic solvents and polymer concentration affected greatly the microsphere morphology. When dichloromethane was adopted as organic solvent, microspheres with porous structure were produced. When ethyl acetate served as organic solvent, two different morphologies were obtained. One was hollow microspheres with thin porous shell under a lower PLGA concentration, another was erythrocyte-like microspheres under a higher PLGA concentration. Three types of microspheres including porous, hollow core with thin porous shell（denoted by hollow in brief） and solid structures were finally selected for in vitro drug release tests. Bovine serum albumin（BSA） was chosen as model drug and encapsulated within the microspheres. The BSA encapsulation efficiency of porous, hollow and solid microspheres was respectively 90.4%, 79.8% and 0. And the ultimate accumulative release was respectively 74.5%, 58.9% and 0. The release rate of porous microspheres was much slower than that of hollow microspheres. The experiment results indicated that microspheres with different porous structures showed great potentials in controlling drug release behavior.

Controlled growth of ultrathin ferromagneticβ-MnSe semiconductor

Two-dimensional(2D)magnetic crystals with intrinsic ferromagnetism are highly desirable for novel spin-electronic devices.However,the controllable synthesis of 2D magnets,especially the direct growth of 2D magnets on substrate surfaces,is still a challenge.Here,we demonstrate the synthesis of ultrathin zinc-blende phase manganese selenide(β-MnSe)nanosheets using the chemical vapor deposition(CVD)technique.The 2Dβ-MnSe crystals exhibit distinct ferromagnetic properties with a Curie temperature of 42.3 K.Density functional theory(DFT)calculations suggest that the ferromagnetic order inβ-MnSe originates from the exchange coupling between the unsaturated Se and Mn atoms.This study presents significant progress in the CVD growth of ultrathin 2D magnetic materials by thinning bulk magnets,and it will pave the way for the building of energy-efficient spintronic devices in the future.